ItsAesthus's Ballot for Week 8 of 2019-20
Submitted on Monday, December 23, 2019 at 9:24AM EST
FYI: This is a provisional ballot. It does not count towards this poll's results.
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Gonzaga
|
13-1 overall, 2-0 this week, no change | Gonzaga proved its mettle in a chaotic week and laid a tighter claim to the #1 spot. |
| 2 |
Duke
|
10-1, 1-0, +2 | Outside of their inexplicable loss to SFA, Duke has had little trouble. They blew out Wofford to rise to #2. |
| 3 |
Louisville
|
11-1, 1-0, -1 | Louisville only fell because of Duke's impressive win over a decent Terriers team, but the margin remains razor-thin. |
| 4 |
Ohio State
|
11-1, 2-0, +6 | The Minnesota loss remains an ugly mark (less of one as the Gophers improve) but OSU beat Kentucky and proved its mettle. |
| 5 |
Kansas
|
9-2, 0-1, -2 | Kansas has lost by all of three points this year, against #2 Duke and #11 Villanova, yet lose they have. So here they are. |
| 6 |
Baylor
|
9-1, 1-0, +1 | The Bears are on an eight-game winning streak, including wins over three ranked teams. |
| 7 |
Oregon
|
10-2, 2-0, +2 | Oregon's already played five teams that've been ranked at some point. Going 3-2 against them ain't half bad. |
| 8 |
Villanova
|
9-2, 1-0, +7 | Not only was the upset of Kansas a huge win, Nova's losses are to #4 and #6 in CORN. So that's pretty good. |
| 9 |
Auburn
|
11-0, 1-0, +5 | Auburn remains quite the enigma, undefeated with its best win over *checks notes* ...NC State? New Mexico? Richmond? |
| 10 |
Utah State
|
12-2, 2-0, +2 | USU proved they should be taken seriously by defeating a decent Florida team (25th in Kenpom) to rise to 12-2. |
| 11 |
Maryland
|
10-2, 0-1, -6 | They've lost to Penn State and Seton Hall, so not *bad* losses per se, but still losses, plural. |
| 12 |
Kentucky
|
8-3, 0-2, -6 | Losing to Ohio State is more than excusable. Losing to Utah? Not so. That's about four or five places of the six-place drop. |
| 13 |
Virginia
|
9-2, 1-1, -5 | Given the length of their seasons, UVA basketball was expected to have more losses than UVA football, but not so quickly. |
| 14 |
Memphis
|
10-1, 1-0, -3 | How do you go undefeated in a week and fall three spots? Losing Jacob Wiseman, apparently, is one way... |
| 15 |
Butler
|
11-1, 1-0, +7 | Butler's schedule is actually pretty good -- they've played Minnesota, Wofford, Florida, Baylor, and Purdue. |
| 16 |
Michigan State
|
9-3, 2-0, -3 | ...and having a schedule with three losses, one to unranked Virginia Tech, reevaluated is the other way, turns out. |
| 17 |
Indiana
|
11-1, 1-0, NC | With a win over ranked FSU and a loss to Kenpom #51 Wisconsin, it's anyone's guess why Indiana isn't AP-ranked. |
| 18 |
San Diego State
|
12-0, 2-0, +2 | Point: their schedule remains paper-thin and will till they play Utah State in January. Counterpoint: 12-0. |
| 19 |
Arizona
|
10-3, 1-1, -3 | Arizona drops by a fairly small margin with a loss to 11-2 St John's, whose losses are to #80 and #85 in Kenpom. |
| 20 |
Wichita State
|
10-1, 1-0, +8 (NR) | WSU soared in a clinical win over VCU. With two AAC games against Tulsa, they can sweep every D1 team in Oklahoma. |
| 21 |
Xavier
|
10-2, 2-0, +3 | A loss to Wake Forest nearly unranked the Musketeers, but they're still here and making noise. |
| 22 |
Dayton
|
9-2, 1-1, -4 | 10-2 Colorado is a decent loss, even at home, but leaves A10 Dayton little chance to prove themselves. |
| 23 |
Michigan
|
9-3, 1-0, -4 | Michigan was undefeated and CBB Poll's #2 team a scant three weeks ago. 1-3 since, they're on the brink of being unranked. |
| 24 |
West Virginia
|
10-1, 1-0, +3 (NR) | WVU had five players score in the double digits in a win over Youngstown State. Seems they do everything well. |
| 25 |
Florida State
|
10-2, 2-0, +1 (NR) | After beating North Florida and South Florida (in a comeback), it's a shame FSU doesn't play Central Florida this year. |